I’m a huge fan of Medium — Evan Williams’ new publishing platform. I’ve had the opportunity to write a few things there, and though I haven’t written anything pencil related for it yet, Caryn Vainio has:

Don’t Be Afraid of a Pencil. »

The golden nugget from her post:

[S]ketching is one of the most critical skills I think you could learn if you work in any environment that requires you to build something, whether that’s a physical product or a piece of software. And you should learn to stop being afraid of a pencil and a piece of blank paper, because sketching is fast, visible, collaborative communication, and it doesn’t matter how well you can draw.

She’s absolutely right. I work at a web development shop, and although I have absolutely no artistic background, I will often grab one of my ever-present pencils and sketch out a very rough layout of how I think content should be structured on a site we’re building.

Because as Vainio points out, we’re not drawing something — it doesn’t have to look polished. We’re just getting a visual idea down and on paper.

It’s worth a read! And hey, if you want my thoughts on Medium, check out this post on my personal blog.